In her quest to become the first female crewman to go over the wall on a weekly basis for a Sprint Cup team, the 31-year-old Abbott is doing it because, well, it’s fun.

“It’s not a gender issue for me,” Abbott said recently at Bristol Motor Speedway. “I decided to change tires because I liked what I did. I liked the excitement of it, the challenge and what it presented. That’s why I pursued this sport.”

Abbott is expected to change tires at Rockingham Speedway Sunday as a member of the pit crew for Camping World Truck Series driver Jennifer Jo Cobb. She made her NASCAR debut in February, helping pit Cobb’s truck during the race at Daytona International Speedway.

Next week, she won’t just change tires for Cobb’s team at Kansas Speedway but she will return to the track on Sunday to shadow the pit crews for Michael Waltrip Racing, which she has been doing all season. Her goal is to land a spot of one of Waltrip’s three Sprint Cup teams.

The 5-foot-3, 115-pound Abbott trains with the MWR crews and is learning the other things pit crew members do on weekends.

“This is another first for Michael Waltrip Racing,” team co-owner Michael Waltrip said. “She is an incredible elite athlete. … She is a competitor and when she decided to start working towards an over-the-wall position, we said we are the perfect place to make it happen.”

Her training includes one or two training sessions a day at MWR.

“We expect her to excel or we wouldn’t commit the position to her,” Waltrip said.

Changing tires is not what Abbott, a CrossFit gym owner, envisioned a few years ago.

When one of her friends suggested she might be good at changing tires in NASCAR, her first reaction wasn’t enthusiasm.

“You want me to change a tire?” she said about her reaction. “Really?”

But she gave it a try and was hooked.

“I heard the noise for a (air) gun and that got my attention,” she said. “And then I saw how fast they do it and the little orchestrated dance they do with the car and I was just fascinated.”

Abbott’s family watched racing when she was growing up but she had no idea about the challenge of trying to change a tire.

As she practiced placing lug nuts on and off wheels, she continued to get hooked.

“I had no idea it was that exciting and challenging,” she said. “It’s a highly tuned technical skill and it’s pretty incredible how spot-on you have to be every single time. “

There aren’t many pit crew members starting out in their 30s but Abbott has developed incredible strength and fitness through her role as a CrossFit instructor.

She is not intimidated.

“Anybody can do this if they have work ethic,” she said. “The guys aren’t shunning me. They’re not being unprofessional.

“They’re all professionals. They’re here and they’re doing their job and they’re getting paid for it. It’s no different than just going to another job — have a good work ethic and you’ll go far.”

For Abbott, this is no different than working in a military laundry center in a war zone for a defense contractor.

“When I worked overseas, at one point I was in a camp and there were six women out of 150 people,” she said. “It wasn’t any different. You just get up and do your work and get what you need done, go work out and go to bed.”

Appreciative of the opportunity in NASCAR, Abbott stressed that she wanted to earn her way and it was most important to perform well once she reaches the Cup level.

“I don’t want to be pushed into a level of competition I’m not ready for,” she said. “It takes years and years to develop.”

Abbott knows that her presence is attracting attention. She has gotten more publicity than any individual pit crew member in several years and she hasn’t even changed a tire on a regular basis.

She’s ready for that attention but appears unfazed by it.

“There are more eyes on me,” she said. “There are more eyes on Michael Waltrip and NASCAR now because of this. I think it is a positive highlight and (women) are going to be there sooner or later.